Alan Prahl column: Independence Day offers plenty of fun stats

Scenes from the July 2012 Festival Foods Fireworks Independence Day celebration at Memorial Park in Appleton.

Are you looking forward to the July 4 holiday? Millions of people are gearing up to celebrate the day. Here are some fun facts and thoughts about July 4 .

This year will be the 237th birthday since 56 people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. There were about 2,500,000 people in the 13 colonies then. We have about 316 million people now.

About 78 million people will barbecue on July 4. Favorite foods and beverages include hot dogs, brats, potato salad and beer. It is estimated that 155 million hot dogs will be eaten on July 4.

The Nathan's Famous restaurant chain holds their annual hot dog eating contest July 4. Few of us will eat anywhere near the number of hot dogs eaten by contestants at Nathan's. The contest is to see who can consume the most hot dogs in 10 minutes and keep them down. Last year's male winner, Joey Chestnut, ate 68 hot dogs and buns, while the female winner, Sonya Thomas, consumed 45. Unbelievable.

Many of the contestants at Nathans drink water to wash things down or dunk the buns in water to make them easier to eat. At many backyard barbecues, beer is the beverage of choice. About 68 million cases of beer will be sold on the July 4 weekend, more than any other holiday.

Tons of potatoes will be made into potato salad. Don't worry; we have enough to go around. The state of Idaho led all states with 345 million acres of potatoes planted in 2012. If you live in Wisconsin, just be careful about declaring which potato salad is best, American potato salad or German potato salad. We have strong feelings about these things.

We're passionate about our brats, too. Some brat purists declare that there's only one way to serve a brat: on a Sheboygan hard roll with dark Wisconsin-German style mustard. Personally, my eating habits are more diverse. I'd never turn down a brat just because it had sauerkraut, onions or ketchup on it.

On July 4, many of us will be paying more attention to the good food we enjoy than to remembering why we celebrate the day. Remember, the Declaration of Independence didn't make us free. The War for Independence that followed the Declaration of Independence lasted until 1783. Thousands of people died to make us free. Thank you to all of those who fought for our independence, to all who have served in the military and sacrificed to preserve our freedom.

Enjoy your holiday. And if you're looking for something a little different, ESPN is televising the Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest beginning at noon July 4.

- Alan Prahl is with FISC (www.fisc-cccs.org), a nonprofit program of Goodwill of North Central Wisconsin. He can be reached at aprahl@fisc-cccs.org.